Serenely now, Santa Rosa Creek sculpts its way seaward
after the passing of the winter storms that left it swollen and
tumultuous earlier in year.
Why not store some of that water, by means of ephemeral storage ponds and reservoirs, for use during the drier months of the year was a question posed at the recent Cambria "Water You Thinking?" exploration of water alternatives. There may be a showing of the water panel on cable Channel 21 - Slo-Span - later this month. Check listings for more information.
There still could be water for endangered steelhead, tidewater gobies , southwestern pond turtles and red-legged frogs during low flows, if some of Cambria's unused
water allotment was diverted from creeks for storage during high flows
and then used when the creeks were lower.
While little reducing the winter swelling of the creeks, rainwater collection in cisterns for summer garden watering and stormwater diversion for groundwater recharge could provide common sense ways to level out the highs and lows of Cambria's water supply.
Watershed and coastal enhancement and protection are key to dealing creatively with Cambria's water challenges. High quality, tertiary treated recycled water could also add significantly to Cambria's water portfolio, as it might be used for agricultural, as well as landscape applications. It would also greatly reduce the possibility of harmful contamination as it made its way to our nearshore ecosystems.
Cambria Water Reaches Flood Stage . . .
of information about alternative sources!
by Lynne Harkins
Concerned Cambria Rate Payers Put Together Their Own Water Education Event
Right from the beginning, with the word play of "Water You Thinking?" (which came partially out of the musings of notable author and self-described recently "awakened" water activist Catherine Ryan Hyde), the March 16th water alternatives panel in Cambria showed promise of being something different. The series of presentations invited listeners to become better informed about a variety of possible strategies to enhance water availability in the community . . . without ever desalting a drop of ocean water.
Introducing the evening was event organizer Ann Cichowski who commenced with the following statements:
"I believe in education. I believe in science education, and I believe that every citizen in a democratic society needs to be science literate. That's the purpose of this evening."
Joining Ann, an environmental educator, in believing that Cambrians need more information and science-based education about the options for increasing local access to water, an ad hoc group worked together to put on the event, which was moderated by Valerie Bentz and Steve Figler. Four very knowledgeable panelists filled the evening with a flow of information and insights which illuminated the largely unsung reality that Cambria rate payers' taps could likewise flow during drier periods by utilizing strategies which, evidence suggests, cost less and have fewer financial and technical uncertainties than saltwater desalination.
Fittingly, water resources are being considered in the County's water planning process, according to Public Works Water Resources Engineer Courtney Howard. There will be a meeting on April 7th at 9am at the SLO Library at 995 Palm Street. The State's guidelines for grant funding for water projects were released in March and public comment is being sought throughout the state as part of the adoption process. About $50 million is available to the Central Coast funding area. Included in the grant funding document is a reference to the Ahwahnee Water Principles, which encourage resource efficient water initiatives.
The Cambria water alternatives panelists certainly gave attendees much to think about in that regard and to possibly contribute to Cambria and to county-wide water discussions. At the county meeting, Cambrians might also learn about funding opportunities for recycling, wastewater treatment upgrade, watershed protection, graywater and rainwater collection - all subjects that were well covered in the trenchant water panel presentations during the course of the "Water You Thinking?" event.
The first presenter was Lou Blanck. A former Cambria Community Services District director, Blanck is described on his website as having had 30 years' work experience in geophysics, engineering geology, hydrogeology, environmental cleanup and assessment, and disaster preparedness and response. He is one of the rare individuals who has all California geologic licenses. Lou also formerly worked for the Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board. He lives in Cambria and knows the area well.
Thinking in terms of using available water resources prudently has led hydrogeologist Blanck to consider ways to tap abundant winter storm water during drier seasons. He described the possibility of two modest-sized reservoirs, using small canyons he said could be suitable, where high water from winter could be drawn off and stored for use during dry months, including for fire suppression. The purpose of two reservoirs would be to allow each to be fully drained in alternate years, thereby eliminating the creation of long-term artificial habitat, which has been objected to in the past as an invitation to invasive species. Bullfrogs, for instance, could prosper while making endangered red-legged frogs a food source. Regular draining of reservoirs could deal with such threats and Blanck says he has consulted with California Fish and Game about the strategy. (See Surviving Invasion)
Among Blanck's other revelations was that the state of California has, in the past, had grants available for communities to acquire reverse osmosis (RO) systems for the purpose of polishing treated wastewater in the process of tertiary treatment. There is a plan, largely marginalized, for recycled water use in the town's Water Master Plan. Blanck pointed out that sending such high quality recycled water up creek to agricultural operations in exchange for the ag people using less water from the creek would also be possible. This exchange would potentially mean more water available down creek for Cambria. In an emergency, such an RO system could also be adapted to do short term desalination.
Lou also challenged the notion that Cambria is without recourse if new upstream agriculture operations reduce water availability for Cambria. A legal case, he said, could be made to protect Cambria's water use needs, which pre-dated newer agriculture withdrawals from the creek(s). He also said that creek allotments could improve for Cambria with the new knowledge that came with the 2003 San Simeon earthquake, which showed deep bedrock fractures are an on-going, heretofore unknown, source of water for the area. Blanck also gave rainwater collection a nod in his enumeration of possibilities available to the town.
With regard to seawater desalination, Blanck brought up health concerns stemming from the fact that boron persists in the treated water and is lethal to plants. Beyond that he spent considerable time clarifying the high energy requirements for seawater desalination. As he showed graphs which depicted the continual rise of energy costs, he reported that in communities which have already bought into a desal plants, they avoid using them as much as possible (while often still paying capital and maintenance costs or storage expense; but at least spared high energy bills). He wondered if Cambria really wanted to make the same mistake that other communities have made.
Note: At the Cambria CSD meeting held on March 25, the Board remained stalled in its California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) process for the proposed desalination test wells at Santa Rosa Creek beach. They have received about a 100 pages of comments from the public and agencies. There are jurisdictional questions about whether the CCSD or the Army Corps is the lead agency for the project. The Army Corps was scheduled for a hearing on its Coastal Consistency Determination at the Coastal Commission meeting on April 15 in Ventura but the agenda item has been postponed. It seems questions about the project will follow it to any venue where it's considered.
The attentive audience of about 50-60 people heard next from Conner Everts, a statewide water policy activist. Though billed as a water conservation advocate, Conner prefers to speak of efficiency in talking about managing the use of California's water and the potential therein for reducing waste and increasing usable supply. Calling to mind his friend, environmental matriarch Dorothy Green,author of the book Managing Water: Avoiding Crisis is California, Everts referred to the "low hanging fruit" of efficient water use practices and asserted we've harvested some, but that there is still so much more that can be done before we look to energy- intensive, environmentally damaging saltwater desalination.
Speaking about the Marin County proposed desalination project, Everts alluded to the study published by Food and Water Watch in which an analysis of other options revealed that water conservation, as the Feb 2009 EIR concluded, is the "most environmentally beneficial." Though it was dismissed as insufficient on a stand alone basis, conservation/efficiency could fill the Marin water gap if combined with "packages of conservation-oriented alternatives," which the Food and Water Watch study by James Fryer, a former head of Marin's conservation program, examined and which the Marin EIR neglected to consider.
Pointing out that Australia was down to 30 gallons per day per person, without sacrifice of quality of life, before they used desal, Everts listed many state-wide, evolving water saving strategies from graywater/dual plumbing, to separate indoor and outdoor metering, to dual-flush toilets, to water reclamation in Orange County, and to large cisterns being used by Tree People in LA for rainwater capture for their extensive watering through the dry summer and fall months. TreePeople makes a strong case for using cisterns for rainwater capture as part of good water policy and practice. In years of somewhat less than average rainfall, it's possible to harvest 7.5 gallons per square foot of roof space. Metal roofing is an ideal collection surface and ranks high for structure safety in fire, as well. One Cambria family harvests enough water from their roof, after only an inch and a half of rain, to fill their 6000 gallon cistern, which waters their ample vegetable garden through the Fall. Clearly some of these approaches are applicable to Cambria, but what really became clear is that there is a diverse portfolio of efficient water choices available and a combination of approaches to conservation and efficiency can yield big water savings . . . acting as a de facto "new supply."
There are many regions certainly where there is markedly less rainfall than the central coast receives. A non-profit group called Fogquest does some remarkable work in harvesting fog's moisture to supply water to areas with little rainfall and limited infrastructure. Their strategy is similar to the one used by Monterey Pines, as their outstretched limbs, replete with extended needles, capture the beads of moisture in coastal fog, making for the familiar night and morning dripping sounds of the forest as the trees perform their self-watering ritual. There's much to learn by observing the efficient and inspiring water and other workings of Nature. A whole field of inquiry is emerging called biomimicry, following Janine Benyus' book of the same name (see video below).
Moving on to efficient possibilities that potentially could be employed and create employment in Cambria, the presentation by Mladen Bandov focused on current options for reuse of graywater. He described the simplest scale system to the more elaborate options which are available to homeowners and businesses. There are choices to be made to balance cost of systems with how long it takes a system to pay for itself with water savings. Mr. Bandov referred to the recently published SLO Guide to Graywater, which was developed by the San Luis Obispo Coalition of Appropriate Technology, of which Bandov is a member. SLO- COAT, a joint effort of SLO Green Build and local Sierra Club and Surfrider Foundation chapters, has also invited eminent speakers to other parts of the county for a number of smart water use events. Brad Lancaster spoke about rainwater harvest, Brock Dolman dealt with watershed dynamics, and John Todd addressed water/wastewater ecological design. So, Cambria's event joined other impressive and on-going efforts in the county to be at the leading edge of water use technology -old and new- to maximize the utilization of this life-sustaining resource.
Rounding out the evening was Jim Brownell, a soils expert, who alluded to the raging winter storm creek flows that are such an integral part of the Central Coast winter season. Reminding everyone in the audience of the huge seasonal quantities of water going into the ocean, he posited that, perhaps with cooperation with our neighbors up the creeks, there could be an increase in the use of storage ponds. Such storage ponds would fill during winter storms; then provide water for cattle as some of the water evaporated and the rest slowly percolated into the ground- recharging the watersheds' groundwater supplies. By encouraging a greater quantity of winter rainwater to infiltrate soils, there would be an increase in subsurface supplies, thus keeping the creek levels higher in the dry summer and fall months. Brownell suggested that such an approach could include possible purchase of available land up-creek for watershed protection and enhancement. An avid practitioner of rooftop home rainwater collection too, he extolled the value of such low tech, but efficient and effective practices, as he brandished a traditional, exquisitely sculptural sabre. While such knives have been crafted for a very long time, in a relatively "low tech" manner, Brownell pointed out, no one doubts their efficiency for and applicability to modern uses. Thus it could well be for many traditional practices for water management. When added to new technologies and stewardship, Cambria's water outlook could be markedly improved.
Two members of the CCSD board and the district engineer attended the event, though none of them appeared, during or after the presentations, to welcome the upbeat input of panelists. Tina Dickason was among those who enthusiastically endorsed the informative evening, saying she thought it regrettable that the CCSD hadn't ever done something similar to inform rate payers about expanded water options.
With the animated discussions going on after the meeting, it seemed a certainty that news of the evening's presentations would be widely circulated and that there would be follow-up sessions of some sort as Cambrians move from the "Water You Thinking?" mode to perhaps one of "Water You Doing?"
Why not store some of that water, by means of ephemeral storage ponds and reservoirs, for use during the drier months of the year was a question posed at the recent Cambria "Water You Thinking?" exploration of water alternatives. There may be a showing of the water panel on cable Channel 21 - 
Watershed and coastal enhancement and protection are key to dealing creatively with Cambria's water challenges. High quality, tertiary treated recycled water could also add significantly to Cambria's water portfolio, as it might be used for agricultural, as well as landscape applications. It would also greatly reduce the possibility of harmful contamination as it made its way to our nearshore ecosystems.
